Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Social Rights in Malta
Social Rights in Malta
Social Rights in Malta
in Malta
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Directorate C — Social Affairs
Unit C.2 — Modernisation of social protection systems
E-mail: Valdis.ZAGORSKIS@ec.europa.eu
European Commission
B-1049 Brussels
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
in Malta
00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11
(*) The information given is free, as are most calls (though some operators, phone
boxes or hotels may charge you).
LEGAL NOTICE
This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the
authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information
contained therein.
Contents
FAMILY ........................................................................................................................ 6
Family Benefits ......................................................................................................... 7
Maternity Benefits ..................................................................................................... 8
HEALTH...................................................................................................................... 11
Healthcare .............................................................................................................. 12
Long-term care ....................................................................................................... 13
Sickness Benefits .................................................................................................... 16
INCAPACITY ............................................................................................................... 18
Invalidity Pension .................................................................................................... 19
Benefit Claim for Injury at Work and Disease/Medical Condition related to Work ............. 20
OLD-AGE AND SURVIVORS ........................................................................................... 22
Pension for Widows/Widowers and Survivors .............................................................. 23
Contributory Pension for Retirement .......................................................................... 24
SOCIAL ASSISTANCE ................................................................................................... 26
Minimum Resources ................................................................................................. 27
UNEMPLOYMENT ......................................................................................................... 28
Unemployment Benefit ............................................................................................. 29
MOVING ABROAD ........................................................................................................ 31
Previous coverage abroad can count .......................................................................... 32
MAIN RESIDENCE ........................................................................................................ 34
Habitual Residence .................................................................................................. 35
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Your social security rights in Malta
Family
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Your social security rights in Malta
Family Benefits
This chapter provides an overview of the benefits payable to families with children.
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Your social security rights in Malta
Maternity Benefits
This chapter contains a list of benefits that pregnant women are entitled to both financially
and in terms of leave.
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Your social security rights in Malta
Jargon busters
Insurable job (or self-employment) is an activity of more than 8 hours per week which
involves payment of the respective social security contributions.
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Your social security rights in Malta
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Your social security rights in Malta
Health
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Your social security rights in Malta
Healthcare
This chapter contains a list of various health services provided by the Maltese system and
the related eligibility criteria.
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Your social security rights in Malta
Long-term care
Although there is no concrete definition of long-term care, various services are provided
centrally and others are given in the community:
Care in institutions/residential homes
Meals on Wheels Service
Handyman Service
Home Care Help Service
Service in cases of incontinence
Community Care (Commcare) Service, Nursing and Other Professionals Service in the
Community
Day Centres
Telecare Service
Hospital for cancer treatment
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Your social security rights in Malta
community. Some of these benefits are paid after the means test is carried out, while
others are provided according to the needs of the individual.
There are a number of services provided in the community that support the elderly and
those with special needs. The main aim of such services is to allow as much as possible
the persons involved to continue living in their community as independently as possible,
improve their quality of life and also provide respite and support to their carers. Ultimately,
these services help to avoid or reduce the need to receive residential care.
Comm Care Service (Community Nurse and other Professionals Service): This community
service is operated by different professionals, including nurses, Allied Health professionals,
Social Workers and the Dementia Intervention Team. The professional team involved aims
to coordinate care in a holistic manner to give highest priority to all the needs of the person.
The professionals work with the patients and their relatives to help them and live as
independently as possible. The team also refers the people to the various available
services.
Meals on Wheels Service: This service helps the elderly and other persons who still live
at home but find it difficult to prepare a decent meal. The Active Ageing and Community
Care Department provides a nutritional meal for these people at a subsidised price.
Handyman Service: This service helps the elderly and those with special needs to
continue living as independently as possible in their own homes. This scheme offers up to
70 different repair services ranging from electrical works, plumbing work, and carpentry
as well as transporting some items. One simple phone call is all that is needed.
Home Help Service: This service offers mainly domestic work and in a few situations it
provides personal assistance to the elderly and people with special needs.
Incontinence Services: This service offers very heavily subsidised incontinence pants to
help reduce the physical and financial hardships of the carers who help those suffering
from this condition. This makes it easier for these individuals who find it difficult to continue
living in their own community.
Telephone rent rebate: This service is a discounted bimonthly rental charge of your
home’s residence direct telephone line. It is for older persons having the Go plc telephone
service only and there is no discount on telephone calls.
Telecare Service: This telephone service makes it easy for those who use it to seek help
whenever they need it. This reassures the elderly, the disabled and those with special
needs by helping them to continue living in their own homes. Telecare plus also provides
reassurance to those who care for such persons.
Active Ageing Centres: The aim of this service is to avoid as much as possible that a
person feels lonely. The Active Ageing centres also alleviate a number of difficulties that
many elderly people encounter when it comes to relating to others. The elderly are given
the chance to help in the Centre's administration. The fact that these Centres help the
elderly and people with special needs to remain independent and socially integrated also
gives some respite to these people's relatives and their carers. The Department of Active
Ageing and Community Care has also set up 6 other Active Ageing Centres with a totally
new concept. These Centres are being run in collaboration with Local Councils and other
entities, and focus mainly on lifelong learning.
Dementia Day Centres: The Dementia Activity Centre aims to provide a service to those
persons suffering from dementia. This service helps to reduce caregiver stress, whilst
therapy is offered so that persons suffering from dementia can remain active. These
centres provide a safe, secure and dementia-friendly environment and are run by staff
which are proficient and trained in dementia care.
Night Shelters Service: The ultimate aim of this service is to offer a safe haven for the
elderly who live on their own and do not feel safe at night sleeping alone. The opening
times of Night Shelters are from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. in winter and from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. in
summer. In every Night Shelter, the elderly person concerned has a bedroom, a bathroom
and the use of a living room and kitchen at his/her disposal.
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Your social security rights in Malta
Respite at Home: The Comm Care team assess the needs of the person and provides
packages accordingly. This service is to provide respite in the home of the person.
Community Geriatrician Service: The Community Geriatrician Service aims to provide
access to senior citizens that are homebound due to a physical health problem and obtain
a comprehensive Geriatric Assessment. Accordingly, the community geriatrician will carry
out a domiciliary medical visit together with professionals from the Comm Care Assessment
Unit.
Carer at Home scheme: The Carer at Home scheme aims to provide another service
within the community. Through this scheme, the Government supports financially those
senior citizens who employ a carer of their choice so as to assist them in their daily needs.
The Carer at Home scheme is being offered both in Malta and Gozo. The beneficiary will
receive up to a maximum of €5,200 per year from when the application is approved. The
benefit is paid on a monthly basis directly into a bank account indicated by the applicant.
Residential care for older persons is provided by the State in either government homes
(8 homes) or through agreements with the private sector for service provision (14 private
homes). The scope of this service is residential care in a physically and emotionally safe
and secure environment to older persons and persons with disability who can no longer
cope with living in their own homes.
People who receive some form of benefit by means of a service are expected to pay a small
contribution towards the cost of the service.
For Home Help the below fees are applicable:
a weekly contribution of €2.33 will be deducted from the pension.
For households with more than one beneficiary, a weekly contribution of €3.49 will be
deducted from the pension of any household beneficiary identified.
If help in preparation of a light meal is requested, a household with one beneficiary
will pay an extra weekly contribution of €1.16, while a household with more than one
beneficiary will pay an extra weekly contribution of €1.75.
Meals on Wheels: €2.20 per meal.
Handyman Service: Rates vary according to the task performed while the client has to
provide the materials.
Incontinence service: No administrative fees are incurred in applying for this service.
Night Shelter service: The rate is €2 daily.
Residents at homes for the elderly are obliged to pay 60% of their total income (this
includes the pension from the Social Services Department, bonuses, foreign pensions, bank
interest, rent, etc.). Residents of St Vincent de Paul Hospital are obliged to pay 80% of
their total income, provided that they retain over €1,400 a year.
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Your social security rights in Malta
Sickness Benefits
This chapter gives you information about the benefit rates to which you are entitled while
sick and the conditions related to the same benefits.
Sickness Benefit is not payable for the first three days that a person is unfit for work and
has a maximum duration of 156 days per calendar year.
However, if the person claiming this benefit undergoes surgery or suffers serious injury or
serious illness due to which he/she would need long-term care, the Sickness Benefit can
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Your social security rights in Malta
be paid up to a maximum of 312 days while the largest aggregate number of days for
which Sickness Benefit is paid during a period of 2 years cannot exceed 468 days.
Under no circumstances, the total number of benefit days can exceed the total number of
contributions paid by the individual concerned.
For the unemployed, Sickness Benefit is paid on the basis of a six-day week for each period
of sickness during unemployment.
Jargon busters
Credited contribution: A contribution that the government considers as paid even when
the individual has not paid it, naturally under certain conditions recognised by law.
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Your social security rights in Malta
Incapacity
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Your social security rights in Malta
Invalidity Pension
A contributory pension payable to persons who are engaged in a gainful activity but cannot
continue to pursue such activity due to an incumbent medical condition.
Jargon busters
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Your social security rights in Malta
Benefits payable to persons who suffer an injury on the place of work (Benefiċċju għall-
Korriment) or who develop a medical condition which is related to the workplace (Mard
tax-Xogħol).
People who suffer a disability of between 1% and 19%, are entitled to a sum between
€246.93 and €4,690.60.
The surviving spouse, together with the children of the person who dies at the workplace,
is entitled to a rate of widow's/widower's pension as if the victim had paid the maximum
amount of contributions.
All the payments mentioned above are administered by the Department of Social Security.
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Your social security rights in Malta
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Your social security rights in Malta
This chapter contains information on the rights and conditions required for a surviving
spouse to benefit from a contributory pension for widows/widowers and survivors
(Pensjonijiet lir-Romol u Superstitii).
*There is a distinction between Survivors pension which is income related and Widow/er
pension which is flat rate.
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Your social security rights in Malta
This chapter contains information on the statutory retirement age and the necessary
conditions to be entitled to this pension.
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Your social security rights in Malta
Jargon busters
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Your social security rights in Malta
Social assistance
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Your social security rights in Malta
Minimum Resources
This chapter gives an overview of the assistances available in case a contingency arises.
Jargon busters
Energy Benefit: a benefit to reduce the utility bill of people who earn less than the
statutory minimum.
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Your social security rights in Malta
Unemployment
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Your social security rights in Malta
Unemployment Benefit
This chapter deals with the benefits that people can claim if they lose their job. In fact,
three benefits fall in this category:
Unemployment Benefit (Benefiċċju għal Disimpieg);
Special Unemployment Benefit (Benefiċċju Speċjali għal Disimpieg);
Unemployment Assistance (Għajnuna Soċjali).
These payments are made from the first day of unemployment and continue for a period
of 156 days. After that, the person concerned no longer qualifies for this benefit unless
he/she takes up employment again for a period of at least 13 weeks.
Unemployment Assistance is paid at a rate that can change according to the means test,
and particularly according to the family composition.
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Your social security rights in Malta
Moving abroad
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Your social security rights in Malta
This chapter provides information about what a person should know when moving from
one country to another in Europe and the impact that this move may have on the social
benefits that the person is entitled to receive.
How to apply
If a person was working in an EU country or a country covered by the EU Regulations and
will return to Malta, he/she must bring with him/her:
A statement of the Social Security contributions paid by means of an E104/S041
and/or a U1 form, which can be obtained from the Social Security institution of the
country concerned.
If a person has received Unemployment Benefit from any EU country for four weeks, this
benefit can be transferred to Malta for a period of between three and six months so that
this person can find employment. In this case, the U2 form must be duly completed by the
institution paying the benefits.
If a person is applying for social benefits in Malta, there is a section on the form that asks
if a person has ever worked in an EU country.
The applicant must indicate:
the country where s/he was employed;
the name and address of the employer;
the dates of employment there and
the Social Security number of the country in which s/he was living.
Whenever someone needs to meet certain conditions before claiming benefits, the
Authorities must consider the period over which contributions have been paid while working
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Your social security rights in Malta
Main residence
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Your social security rights in Malta
Habitual Residence
This chapter provides information about the "Habitual Residence" criteria, which must be
met in order to receive social benefits.
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